Some people don't like cemeteries, but I have always found them to be quiet places of unique beauty. I especially enjoy those in Louisiana, where most of the graves are above ground due to the high water table. Here are some photos we took while strolling through several different cemeteries.

We had a hunch our best bet for getting up close and personal with the Louisiana outdoors was to head directly to Livingston Parish and check out the Tickfaw State Park. We were right. Here we are at the pavilion, getting ready to explore.

My husband John loves to snap pictures out of airplane windows, and this time his photos were especially useful! Since Miranda flies to Louisiana in the book, it was nice to get a good view of the terrain from the sky.

Or stay right here to see photos my family and I took during a whirlwind fact-finding mission to Louisiana to verify a number of elements in the Whispers of the Bayou manuscript.

Though I was born and raised in Louisiana, I've lived in Pennsylvania for years. So while it's easy enough to head South in my imagination as I write, I wanted to be careful to get the details correct in my story. Thus, as I wrote I knew I needed to get back down to bayou-land and check things out first-hand one more time. As it turned out, our visit provided the opportunity to deepen the manuscript, expand the characters, and breathe into the story the very heart and soul of my homeland.

Come along on our journey through these photos--and enjoy this "insider's view" of the writing process!